I was giving Jessica her daily push on the park swings when a bright sundog, or parhelion, caught my attention. I looked up and saw much more than a sundog. I saw the other parhelion, a colourful halo, and another colourful arc I was unfamiliar with but have since learned is the upper tangent arc. I watched for a minute and they remained stable so we headed home for the camera. Regretfully, the photo does not show as much colour as I saw through my sunglasses.
However, it does show something I did not notice visually. The parhelic circle is the white arc passing through the sun and the sundogs. This second photo shows another portion of the parhelic circle, opposite the sun, that was visible about 25 minutes later.
Definitely a fascinating and educational experience.
Use the following photo to identify the features in the original photo.
Arbeitskreis Meteore e.V. is helpful in identifying any sky phenomenon you see.